Resources
EFDA
Many of the fusion research institutes in Europe offer national outreach programmes - including lectures, visits to schools and visits to the research institute. See the EFDA website for details of the national research institutes.
Culham Science Centre in the UK - home of the joint European JET device - offers a chance for schools visits to Culham - from UK and mainland European schools and universities. Culham also organises open evenings throughout the year for anyone who is interested in visiting. For information please visit the JET website.
EFDA has produced a 60 page brochure for secondary schools 'Energy, Powering your World' giving an introduction to the world of energy and detailing energy discussions in the classroom. To receive free copies of the brochure (up to five), please send an e-mail to Aline Dürmaier, detailing your name, postal address and number of copies requested or download it directly from the EFDA website. The brochure is currently only available in English and Dutch - but will be translated into Spanish, German, French and Italian soon.
Other educational material is also available from EFDA including a CD-ROM 'Fusion, an energy option for the future' and posters - again see the EFDA website to request these.
EMBL
European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences (ELLS)
EMBL hosts the European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences (ELLS), an education facility which has been created to bring secondary school teachers into the research lab for a unique hands-on encounter with state-of-the-art molecular biology techniques and to give scientists a chance to work with teachers, helping to bridge the widening gap between research and schools.
The facility is located in the unique environment of one of the most renowned research institutions in the world, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), with an international staff of young, energetic scientists.
Small international groups of 15-30 teachers come to take part in practical courses called LearningLABs, which combine cutting-edge science with simpler activities easily transferable to the classroom. Over three days, teachers have the opportunity to work side-by-side with top scientists in hands-on experiments, seminars, visits to EMBL facilities, bioinformatics, educational games, and a science and society discussion forum. All LearningLAB teaching material is freely available on the ELLS' TeachingBASE.
ELLS also welcomes external scientists to visit the facility and work with the ELLS' science education officers and teachers to develop new teaching material, and learn how to implement similar programmes at their own institutions.
You will find more information on the ELLS webpages.
ESO
Many of ESO's educational programmes are organised in collaboration with the European Association for Astronomy Education (EAAE). The ESO-EAAE Astronomy Summer Schools take place annually, for teachers from across Europe. These events provide a chance to learn about astronomy, share teaching resources, and exchange ideas. Teachers do not have to be experts in astronomy, but merely to have an interest in the subject.
"Catch a Star" is an international ESO/EAAE competition for school students, with fantastic prizes including a trip to visit the ESO Very Large Telescope on Cerro Paranal in Chile. The competition includes multiple categories, to ensure that there is something appropriate for all levels. Students choose an astronomical object or topic and write an article about it. Alternatively, they can also take part by making a drawing or painting for an artwork competition.
ESO offers school visits, when resources and staff effort are available, to its headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany. To find out more, please contact eduinfo@eso.org. It is also possible to arrange school visits to the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Further information about visits to Paranal is available at on the ESO website.
ESO and the EAAE have produced a series of educational information sheets, "Journey across the Solar System", which are available online. There is also a series of astronomical educational exercises, produced by ESO in collaboration with ESA, which use data from telescopes such as ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). These are available online at http://astroex.org/ .
ESRF
The ESRF offers visits to its experimental facilities guided by expert scientist to students, school classes and other scientifically interested people. For information, please contact Chantal Argoud, phone +33 4 76 88 20 56.
As to educational material the European Light Source has produced, in collaboration with three other laboratories, a CD ROM "Exploring matter with synchrotron light" (imediasoft, ESRF, 2002). It contains an introduction to the way synchrotron light is created and how it is used on the experimental stations. The various techniques are explained and results are presented in this document (in English and French) that can be ordered from the ESRF (Chantal Argoud, phone +33 4 76 88 20 56.).
For more information about synchrotron light science, we recommend to visit the site www.lightsources.org where you can find various educational material, presentations from other facilities and a wealth of interesting information and exciting news from synchrotrons worldwide including links.